Patrolling the East German Border
I found some of my old pictures from patrolling the East German border back in the mid-80s when I had to dig out an old citation to help a politician verify his own medal from the Gulf War. Luckily for him, we both had been in the same division and had been awarded the same medal back then.
Anyway, when I did a photo essay last year and told one of my stories, it got some measure of interest, so I thought I’d do it again;
This is the East German border marker;
Feeding the guard dogs.
Two guards on motorcycle patrol;
Some watch towers weren’t all that high-tech;
An East German LT;
A Trabant parked out in the middle of no where isn’t suspicious at all;
That couldn’t be a border guard hiding in the weeds between that Trabant and the telephone line on the pole could it? Worst hider ever;
Well besides these guys;
There are more pictures at my Flickr Photo Set.
And, oh, I also found the citation that verifies the story I told in the previous post about the border.
The Army Achievement Medal was new in those days.
Category: Historical
I like the pics… but I just keep thinking about the guy who had to depend on you– the vanquisher of valor-thieves– to prove he’s honest– Or be exposed on your blog… Now THAT is between a rock and a hard place.
You didn’t ask so please forgive the prompt below.
Well, The Cold War is non-trial, to be sure. I reckon I did my part?
But I still wanna hear about 73 Easting. It was an seminal armor confrontation. I’ve read near everything I can find about the overview (well before we met).
Check out: http://www.comw.org/rma/fulltext/victory.html
As a 3/3ID Alum (CSC-Recon 1/4th Infantry in Aschaffenburg 73-76) and an 11th Cav Force Mod weenie (HQR Fulda in 84-85) I can empathize with you big time.
Weird times out there. Weird.
Cool pics, thanks for posting.
Wonderful. So glad you shared these
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Good stuff, wouldnt mind reading more of this. Its too easy to forget how close we were to a third world war.
Where was that, exactly…the only town I can remember by name on the border was Fulda.
At Landstuhl, we patrolled post with the German Army…and then, going back there after twenty years, I had to laugh. The Germans are allowed to come and go but not American passport holders. The concertina wire surrounds the main hospital, screw everything else and who protects the gates? Germans! WTF? I have to tell you, it bugs the hell out of me.
It appears Landstuhl is going to be shut down and a new hospital will be built in or near Ramstein by 2018.
I wish my brother still had pictures of his time in Berlin. My father served with Berlin Brigade in the early ’60s as the wall went up, my brother had served there a couple of years when the wall came down.
Thanks for sharing the pictures, they show a different time that seems much longer ago than it really was.
Ilike the photos takes me back to when i served with c troop 1/2acr on the border back in 81-82 good old days had some good friends there.
Great pictures!!! I have some great shots of the beach at Camp Del Mar (21 area) at Camp Pendleton, anyone interested?!
Not if they’re ‘babes in bikinis’.
So, JL, you were not there when that soldier defected at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin? Oh, the memories. Great photos, JL.